DRAGONFORCE
“REACHING INTO INFINITY”
Album Review By Iron Mathew

10/10

DragonForce are a power metal band from the UK, forming in 1999. The band have made extreme speed metal their signature sound, with every album displaying super fast guitar work and galloping rhythms. ‘Valley Of The Damned’ is their debut album, released in 2003, quickly followed in 2004 by ‘Sonic Firestorm’. Two more albums, ‘Inhuman Rampage’ and ‘Ultra Beatdown’, followed over the next five years, with 2010 a year of major upheaval. Their singer parted ways with the band due to “insurmountable differences of musical opinion”. In 2011, Marc Hudson was announced as the new frontman, and the band went on to release their fifth album, ‘The Power Within’ the following year. ‘Maximum Overload’ was released in 2014, followed in 2015 by the bands second live album ‘In The Line Of Fire…Larger Than Live’. The compilation album ‘Killer Elite: the Hits, the Highs, the Vids’ was released in 2016 and now, in 2017, the band have just released their seventh studio album, ‘Reaching Into Infinity’.

For years DragonForce have worn the crown as “kings of extreme speed metal”, but recent releases by Cryonic Temple (‘Into The Glorious Battle’) and Cellador (‘Off The Grid’) have seen that crown start to slip away. ‘Reaching Into Infinity’ aims to restore the crown, and after just thirty seconds into the opening salvo ‘Ashes Of The Dawn’, DragonForce are setting about reclaiming their crown in blistering style. Blazing guitars and a thunderous rhythm that threatens to do more than just gallop, push ‘Ashes Of The Dawn’ along at the extreme speed that defines the DragonForce sound. Rolling in on the back of a short, effects laden intro ‘Judgement Day’ launches into orbit at a faster pace than the opening song. High tempo, high velocity, high speed heavy metal, always accompanied by a clean and clear vocal delivery, DragonForce in just two songs have proven that they are the kings of extreme speed. Screaming and screeching guitar solos are a ferocious flurry and fly by like a fighter jet off to war. With no chance for a breather, the album races on with ‘Astral Empire’ increasing the pace once again and threatening to break the sound barrier. DragonForce have set a standard for high speed heavy metal, that many bands have aimed to achieve and surpass, but with ‘Reaching Into Infinity’, the band have proven to all comers that they are indeed the “kings of extreme speed metal”.

‘Curse Of Darkness’ introduces a much more melodic feel without losing any pace or power. The twin guitar attack is in full flow with vocalist Marc Hudson singing at his absolute best and sounding better than ever. The breath taking pace of the album is gonna challenge even the best head bangers out there to keep up. ‘Silence’ enters the fray on the back of some mellow guitar work and rolls forward like the power ballad it is. ‘Silence’ is probably one of the heaviest power ballads ever, and shows that the band have more to them than just out and out speed. Take as many breaths as you can and try your best to recover from the exhilarating first half of the album…The second half explodes into life with the devastatingly quick ‘Midnight Madness’. Hard rock and heavy metal combine perfectly as ‘Midnight Madness’ rockets by at high velocity. Now for something different…experimenting with a more deep throated and growled vocal style, singer Marc really pushes his voice to the limit on ‘War!’. A short atmospheric build up and ‘War!’ explodes into life, hurtling along at high speed, sounding more like the offspring of a thrash metal/speed metal love in . . . The chorus is amazingly sing a long-able, and if any more evidence was still needed that DragonForce have reclaimed their crown as kings of speed metal, then add ‘War!’ to the file.

With twelve songs on offer across more than an hour of playing time, ‘Reaching Into Infinity’ is worth every single minute of your listening time. ‘Land Of Shattered Dreams’ is very hard hitting and punchy, and is the only song on offer here that resembles the European style of speed and power metal. The signature sound of DragonForce owes so much to the traditional British twin guitar attack and the catchy buzz of the American style of power metal. Aiming to prove once again that they are able to deliver more than just out and out speed, DragonForce deliver an eleven minute epic of glorious proportions that will appeal equally to fans of the hard rock and heavy metal genres. British stalwarts Iron Maiden have made famous the epic longer songs, and here, ‘The Edge Of The World’ is moulded in the same vein. Atmospheric and melodic, ‘The Edge Of The World’ is superb, swinging effortlessly from rock to metal to speed and everything in between. With many twists and turns throughout its tempo changing journey, ‘The Edge Of The World’ will hold your attention for all eleven minutes. And with a surprise death metal growled vocal performance form Marc towards the songs end, DragonForce have excelled themselves with this one. Melodic hard rock takes front and centre as the electrifying ‘Our Final Stand’ strides in and rushes on with pace and power. All good things come to an end, and so does this album…’Gloria’ is the final song and is typical DragonForce flair. High speed, high velocity and insanely catchy, ‘Gloria’ is a glorious end to a glorious album and one that proves DragonForce are masters of infectious speed metal.

Overall, a superb album of hard hitting, high velocity speed metal, DragonForce are the “kings of extreme speed metal” and rightly deserve that title.

TRACKLIST

Reaching Into Infinity
Ashes Of The Dawn
Judgement Day
Astral Empire
Curse Of Darkness
Silence
Midnight Madness
War!
Land Of Shattered Dreams
The Edge Of The World
Our Final Stand
Gloria

http://www.dragonforce.com/
https://www.facebook.com/dragonforce/

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